KDB Mission

To improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit through community partnerships, City services and individual participation focusing on litter prevention, education, recycling and clean-up efforts for a safe, green and beautiful environment.

KDB HISTORY

Keep Detroit Beautiful (KDB) was founded in 1955 and celebrated 20 years of service in 1975 and became an effective educational arm of City government. KDB was revitalized in 2001 and became a Certified Affiliate of Keep America Beautiful (KAB) on April 24, 2012. The certification also aligns KDB with Keep Michigan Beautiful (KMB) which celebrated 50 years of service to Michigan in 2012. KDB is now positioned to take advantage of all the programs and resources available under the umbrella of KAB and KMB. This partnership strengthens our ability to run effective local beautification, environmental and educational programs in the city of Detroit. We are also happy to announce that KDB will be bringing back the KDB Teens Program that won national acclaim for more than 20 years.

KDB will promote the City of Detroit’s community clean-up, recycling and beautification efforts going forward. Each year during the Months of April through June, KDB will highlight the Great American Cleanup, Earth Day, Motor City Makeover and the City of Detroit’s Beautification Day.

Additional community events and activities include America’s Recycle Day, Household Hazardous Waste Day, Adopt-A-Park, Adopt-A-Shelter, Adopt-A-Lot/Garden, as well as Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Authority’s roll-off container program. KDB will also partner with community generated clean-up efforts throughout the year.

KDB’s dedication and commitment to beatification programs and initiatives promotes community engagement that includes residents, business owners, community organizations, and block clubs throughout the city of Detroit.

Keep America Beautiful is a national organization that was founded in 1953 as a cornerstone of community revitalization, conservation and economic development. They currently operate through a national grassroots network of over 1000 certified affiliates and participating organizations in all 50 states. Keep America Beautiful and its affiliates enhance their communities by building partnerships between citizens, businesses, civic organizations and government.

Their mission is to motivate the community to improve their neighborhoods through cleanups, recycling, anti-litter programs, graffiti prevention, tree planting and other beautification activities. Keep America Beautiful combines education with hands-on stewardship to make America’s communities cleaner, greener, safer and more livable.

As a national affiliate, Keep Detroit Beautiful will work with Keep America Beautiful to change behaviors and improve communities through a focus on:

Litter Prevention: Defining litter, identifying the causes, and reducing it by organizing cleanups, and promoting proper handling of discarded waste in our communities.

Waste Reduction and Recycling: Reducing the impact of solid waste in communities through integrated programs including responsible consumerism, source reduction and reuse, recycling and education about landfills, composting and waste-to-energy.

Beautification and Community Greening: Improving the visual aspects of communities through programs that beautify and naturally clean our environment including community gardens, restoring vacant lots, highway and shoreline beautification, urban forests, native and wildflower plantings, and graffiti prevention and abatement.
As a recognized leader in community improvement, Keep America Beautiful is guided by these principles:

Education: This is the key to encouraging positive behaviors toward community improvement.

Individual Responsibility: Improving communities, their environment, and quality of life all begins with personal responsibility — individuals becoming more engaged as citizens and stewards of the environment.

Public-Private Partnerships: Broad-based community alliances are essential to achieve sustainable community improvement.

Volunteer Action: By engaging volunteers we extend the reach of our education and multiply the impact of our actions.

Keep Detroit Beautiful will participate in a variety of national Keep America Beautiful Initiatives:

Great American Cleanup: The Great American Cleanup is the nation’s largest annual community improvement program, brings the power of 3.8 million volunteers and participants to create local change.

America Recycles Day: America Recycles Day is November 15 and it is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to the promotion of recycling in the United States.

Recycle Bowl: Recycle Bowl is a national K-12 recycling competition.

RecycleMania: RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Over an 8-week period each spring.

Cigarette Litter Prevention: In 2011, cities and towns that implemented Keep America Beautiful’s Cigarette Litter Prevention Program had an average reduction in cigarette butt litter of 54%.

Graffiti Hurts: The Graffiti Hurts® program is focused on educating people in schools, communities, law enforcement and the media, that graffiti hurts our communities. The program addresses community-based solutions for graffiti abatement and prevention.
Clean Sweep USA: Developed in 2005, Clean Sweep U.S.A. is a fun and engaging educational site designed to supplement middle school environmental education curriculum.